Close to the Ground
by Diego Chavez
Summary: This is the story of Reno before he became a Turk, one of my first fics so its a bit inconsistent.
1. A New Beginning


    The Assassin Chronicles:
    Close to the Ground
    Part 1
    By Diego Chavez and converted to FF7 by Anya
    _
    Diego's note- hello, my good friend anya offered to convert my story to ff7 for me and I complied, so once again thanks to anya. I have absolutely no clue about ff7, anya did all that stuff for me. This story is basically the same as **A Better Life Part 1, ** my original story that anya offered to convert to ff7, please r&r. heres anya's note.
    Anya's note- Hey people, Anya here. Okay, this is the Final Fantasy 7 version of Diego's really cool story, A Better Life. (R&r it! It's good!) I read it, and freaked out when I noticed how similar it was to FF7. I also noticed how similar the main character is to what Reno could have been before he was a Turk. (Yes, he is supposed to be a rookie, and yes, he is supposed to be really naive.) Diego knows absolutely nothing about FF7, so I offered to convert it to FF7 for him, and he very nicely let me. Please, send feedback on this (and the original) to either me or Diego. (If you want to know how to contact me, I'm on Diego's favorite authors list. Diego won't give out his e-mail address, so just inform him in a review.) Diego's going to continue churning out the originals, and I'm going to keep on converting them to FF7. Please, r&r. Enjoy! ~Anya~
    _
    I sat in a putrid hole in the wall bar deep in Sector 7, the worst
    district in Midgar. I had lost all money, possessions, love, and hope in my life. I wasn't even sure if I could go on. But I knew that I must, for I knew that I deserved more than this and could get more if I had the will to go on. My name? Reno. There's nothing else to tell, really, except that I knew next to nothing of the killing and violence and bloodshed that ran so rampant in the 10 sectors beneath the Plate.
    I was suddenly interrupted from my thinking by a tap on the shoulder. I slowly turned around and found myself face to face with a man who clearly was out of place down here. What he wanted with me was a mystery.
    "What the hell do you want?" I asked grumpily, trying to sound tough to fit in.
    The man was about to sit down at the bar stool next to me but decided against it due to the mysterious stains and substances still painted on the stool. Instead he stayed standing to insure the safety of his trench coat.
    "Yes, as a matter of fact, you can. I'd like to make you an offer." He said as he nervously ran his hand through his slicked back hair.
    "What's the offer?"
    "I give you 1,500,000 gil, and you dispose of someone for me."
    "Dispose of? Oh you mean…"
    "Yes, that's what I mean."
    I thought over the offer for a moment, oblivious to the man's growing impatience. That kind of money would really give me a boost, but in exchange for taking someone else's life. How could I justify that? But I still could use the money.
    "I'll do it." I said without any emotion.
    "Excellent. Now if you come with me I can discuss the details further."
    Without a word I complied and got off my stool, while throwing a gil coin at the bartender.
    As we walked out onto the street I saw that there was a large crowd around something. As we approached it I saw the reason for the crowd. A brand new luxury car, most likely belonging to my new employer.
    Sure enough the man with the slicked back hair and ponytail parted the crowd and opened the door to the car. I followed quickly before the gap in the crowd closed up, not wanting to lose my entry to the brand new vehicle.
    As I stepped in, a chauffeur shut the door behind me. I looked over at pony tall man and read relief on his face, relief of getting out of Sector 7, not a desired spot to travel to.
    The seats in the mysterious man's car were all jet black leather, and extremely comfortable. The driver wore a black bodysuit and didn't look like anyone you'd want to mess with. He was possibly pony tail man's bodyguard.
    After a maybe ten-minute drive we reached a small brick building. The doors automatically opened at the driver's command and I stepped out into the street. We were in Sector 6, a step up from 7, but not much better.
    I followed ponytail man and the bodyguard to the back door of the building. The bodyguard produced a key and unlocked an old rusted metal door leading downwards into what was presumably the cellar.
    As I walked down the creaky old wooden stairs I found that my assumption was correct. We were in a leaky old cellar, with limited lighting and a musty smell. As I observed my surroundings I realized that ponytail man was already elsewhere.
    I turned around and saw that there was a table in the back corner with two chairs, one already being occupied by my host. I went over and sat down opposite from my employer and was silent.
    He broke the solitude. "As we have already discussed I will give you 1,500,000 gil once you dispose of a certain someone. I will provide you with the appropriate information on this man, a photo, where he can be found, etc. Is that clear?" asked ponytail man.
    "Yeah, that's clear." I replied.
    "Good. You will be paid upon completion of the job, and we will arrange that at a later date. I am going to give you a private cell phone that we can contact each other through. You will contact me upon completion, or if you have any questions."
    "Alright." I said as he handed me the phone. A compact little unit, but disposable also; he couldn't trust me with anything too valuable, I suppose.
    "There is one problem." I said, apparently annoying him a bit.
    "What?"
    "I don't have a weapon. I'll need to be paid half in advance to buy a weapon."
    The ponytail man mulled it over for a bit and finally gave in.
    "I will give you one third right now so you can buy your weapon. If that is not acceptable to you then I can easily find someone else for the job."
    One third was barely enough for a weapon. But I really need the money, so I guess that it will have to be enough.
    "Okay, one third, in hundred thousand gil notes. Paper money, not coins." I said, intentionally trying to get a rise out of him at this point.
    With a snarl in my direction he turned to his bodyguard and gave him a nod. The bodyguard went to the other side of the cellar and disappeared into the darkness. He returned with information on my target and my money in an envelope, and went back to his post.
    "Unless you will be needing anything else I suggest that you leave before you wear out your welcome. We will be in touch," said ponytail man.
    I decided that hanging around any longer would be pointless, so I got up and walked up the stairs back onto the street.
    I walked all the way back to Sector 5 and caught a train to 2. Sector 2 was known for their extensive weapons and artillery selection.
    I spent all of three hours going through shops looking for something that I could afford. It seemed that ponytail man might not have given me enough money, he didn't look like he'd know how much weapons cost anyway.
    As the day turned into night I reached the last store in the entire district, Big Tank's Weapons and Stuff. Not a very creative name but he was selling what I needed and that was all that mattered.
    As I stepped inside I saw that Big Tank's store was nothing more than a tiny closet of a room with boxes of guns everywhere. No one was apparently there at the moment. I made my way around the room and was startled as I heard boots come clomping into the shop.
    I looked up and saw who I guessed was "Big Tank". He wore an old white stained undershirt and suspenders. His belly and his overall size told me right away why he was called Big Tank.
    "How can I help you?" he asked in a rich raspy accent.
    "I need a gun, but all I have is 300,000," I told him, not wanting to reveal how much money I truly had.
    "Well, I don't know if I have much for that price. But I'm sure I could find something."
    He waddled over to where I was standing and began pawing through the boxes.
    After about five minutes he laboriously stood back up with a weapon in his hand.
    "Here, I can sell you this for 400,000. I'm afraid that's the cheapest I have in the store."
    I picked up the gun from his hands and studied it. All I really knew about guns was you wanted a trigger, and a hole for the bullets to come out of.
    "So what features does this gun have?" I asked, trying not to sound too ignorant.
    "Well there are some unique things about this weapon. It is very accurate, and has a very powerful scope. It is a good gun, and will get the job done for most whatever you need to do."
    It sounded like he was reciting it right off of an advertisement, but everything he said sounded good. And it was all I could afford for now.
    "I'll take it, but I can only give you 325,000."
    "350,000 and you've got yourself a deal."
    I agreed and gave him the appropriate payment.
    I put the gun in the inside pocket of my coat and decided that it was time to find a place to sleep for the night.
    After seeing that the prices of many hotels were too expensive I found something I could afford. It was in Sector 5, not the most glamorous of places but also not 7. After giving the clerk 200 gil to spend the night, I found my room.
    If you could really even call it a room. It was basically a cot, a toilet and a sink. But at least it didn't have rats and it didn't smell, so things were good. I took the gun out of my coat and sat down on my cot to look
    at it again.
    As I studied it I realized that I'd been ripped off; the thing had been used quite a bit. But after this job I would have enough money to move up to at least Sector 8. Hopefully, from there, I could get enough gil to move back onto the Plate and get a real job. Not this business of life and death.
     As I lay on the cot that night I thought over what I was doing. Within the past twelve hours I had become an assassin. One who works in the business of cold-blooded killings and the ruining of lives. What had I done? But then I told myself that after this I could be done with the business of ruthless murders, and I could move on. There had to be a better life out there for me somewhere.
    _-Anya's note-The black haired man is not supposed to be Tseng. I just took the description straight from Diego's original story. I wasn't sure about the sector thing, so I just kinda stuck in random numbers. Okay, let us know if you want us to continue this or not through the reviews Thanks! ~Anya & Diego~
    _


	2. The Job

****

The Assassin Chronicles

A Better Life Part 2

I awoke the next morning and slowly rose as the rays of sun broke through my window and danced across the floor.

After relieving myself I suddenly remembered what had gone on in the previous day. I quickly found my jacket and checked to make sure the gun was still inside. Surely enough it was, but you could never be sure with all the petty little thieves that frequented the city. 

I decided that it was pointless to stay in this tiny apartment, I needed to move on. 

*****

After checking out ten minutes later I decided to start searching for the guy I was supposed to "dispose of". I'd reviewed the photo and limited information on him last night and I had one lead I could trace.

It said in my bio on the guy, provided by ponytail man that I could find my target at The Well Dressed Gentleman, a little clothing shop over in 5. I hopped on the gravtrain and waited out the ten-minute ride. 

As I sat in the back all by myself I once again pondered what I was doing. In the past 24 hours I had agreed to commit a homicide, for money! What was I thinking! I had all the sudden decided that I was God? Deciding who lives and who doesn't?

Reno, calm down man I'm not a psychiatrist, enough with all of this brain examination. I had agreed to take the job and I'd already been paid a third and bought a gun, I couldn't back down now. 

My philosophizing was interrupted as the mechanical voice rang out over the speakers, "Sector 5."

I made my way out through the crowd and found myself standing in an environment quite different than my usual surroundings of late. It was easily three steps up from my lodgings last night in 5. 

There were noticeably more cars on the street and fairly nice ones too. All of the people walking around wore fashionable clothes, and looked like they probably took showers every day, a luxury for me. 

As I looked around for my target's store I realize through the looks I was attracting that I was a bit out of place. If I was going to be successful on this job then I'd have to look like I belonged in 5, not 7.

*****

I found a little store called Casual Elegance, the name gives the store more credit than it deserves. The place is basically a spoofed up bargain bin shop. But it had some things that looked like they would fit in around here and I could afford them, so things were good.

Upon my arrival a mousy little man with small mustachios greeted me. 

"How may I help you sir?" he asked, in a lowly sales clerk type of way.

"I'm lookin' for some clothes to wear around here. I uh just moved down here from 6 and I want something to help me fit in better."

"Well sir we have many selections as you can see. Over here there is…"

He spent another hour guiding me through the selection and eventually he hooked me up with two complete suits and one jacket for "casual affairs", as he'd put it. After another twenty minutes of ringing up my suits and listening to mouse boy tell me what each could be used for I walked out of the store 300 gil lighter.

I found a public bathroom to change in and I was set. I walked out a whole new man, wearing my new gray suit and sporting a smile. I found that after getting rid of my filthy street clothes and my old hat that I looked fairly presentable.

I stopped at a small kiosk and bought a cell phone to add to my look, another 100 gil there. Now I fit in perfectly on the streets of 5, talking wildly into my cell phone about random things and walking around comfortably in my knock off designer suit.

Now I was ready to find the Well Dressed Gentleman.

*****

After lunch at a nice little café right on the roof of the building my target's store was in I decided it was time to check out the store. 

I would have taken the elevator down but on my way I'd noticed that the cab got out right in front of a window to the store. I didn't want to be noticed, especially if I was going to be the last person this man ever saw.

As I walked down the stairs I realized that I didn't even know this man's name. That was a little odd, but apparently Ponytail Man didn't figure that was necessary information for the job. 

At the bottom of the stairs I stopped and assessed my situation. I was facing the back of the store and I could see through the large window that it looked like my man was working at the counter. So his back was turned to me, but probably not for long. I had to act quick before he could see me standing still, awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs.

I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the sector information number. I began to walk by slowly while yelling into the phone and moving my hands animatedly like I had seen so many people do out on the streets.

As I made my down the hall past the Well Dressed Gentleman I pretended to be observing the clothing. While I was really making sure I had the right guy, and sure enough I did. I must have studied that picture twenty times, and I would know his face anywhere. 

He looked like any other normal middle aged man, a bit large in the waist and a bit of a receding hair line. The only distinguishing feature was that he had a large unibrow, something to catch a few looks on the street.

I made eye contact with no one on my little recon mission; I didn't want anyone to remember me. 

*****

Four hours later I sat across from the back of my target's building. He should be leaving by now, where the hell is he?

I waited another fifteen minutes and realized that my target was either running late or I'd missed him. But how could that have happened? I'd been here in the same exact spot for four hours, and I hadn't gone anywhere.

I made a very rash decision and ran around to the front of the "Well Dressed Gentleman" building.

And to my utter shock and disbelief my target walked right out the front door! How could this have happened? I thought for sure that he would go out the back.

Suddenly I felt the weight of the gun inside my suit pocket. It still felt so foreign pressed against my ribcage. I turned my back to the street and pulled the gun out of my suit jacket.

I looked over my shoulder and saw that he was still within range. With out a second thought I brought the gun up and spun around.

__

Anya's note- I changed a few small things from the original story and I hope they didn't mess things up. Also I messed up on the sector thing again, I can't quite remember which is which. Oh, and by the way I don't know what's going to happen any more than you do… Both I and Diego appreciate this greatly, so please r&r.

Diego's Note- I changed a few things from Anya's conversion but I think she's doing a great job helping me with this and I really appreciate it. Once again this story is basically the same as A Better Life Part 2. Thanks for the good reviews, and please R&R. 


	3. A Better Life

****

The Assassin Chronicles

A Better Life Part 3

In the two seconds that it took me to complete the whole maneuver thousands of things flashed through my head. 

__

I was about to become a murderer, wanted for taking the life of another man. Why was I doing this? For the money? Was money more important than somebody's life?

Soon the portion of my brain that tells my other half of the brain to shut up stepped in. I was thinking too much about this.

Suddenly I heard a muffled thump, what was that? I looked down to see my finger on the trigger and my target on the ground ten yards away spurting a leak of red. I had just killed this man; his life had ceased abruptly because of me.

Enough thinking, right now I had to get out of here; already people were looking around with worried glances for any sign of this poor man's murderer. 

I stowed the gun inside my suit jacket and pulled out the cell phone and began my routine as I walked down the street. It seemed so simple, but there had to be more to it than this. Was I really going to get off this easy? No one had even realized it was me, were they totally brain dead?

But for the moment I had to concentrate on the fact that they still hadn't figured out I was responsible for the incident two blocks behind me.

The first thing on the agenda was getting out of this district, I had to get back to Sector 6 and then make contact with ponytail man.

*****

I must have picked the worst time in the history of the gravtrain to try and get a ride. Everyone was going home from work or coming in for the night shift, so I was stuck on the platform, waiting for an open seat on the freaking gravtrain.

As I sat on the hard concrete bench on the platform I watched the daily news on the holovid placed over the platform. 

Most of it was the usual; the economy over in Junon was going to hell and the troops out in Wutai wanted to come home, what else was new?

But then something did catch my eye, news from 5 that's where I'd been this afternoon, and where I'd completed my gruesome task.

"Just this afternoon a man was found dead on the street in Sector 5. It appears he was shot in the back, and most likely died right away." Said the newswoman.

_Holy shit, this was on the news. The cops would be out looking for someone to put the blame on. What if I hadn't covered my tracks well enough, actually I hadn't covered my tracks at all. So I was wide open, but what could they trace me to? The few people on the street that may have seen me, the mousy little sales clerk? Who would be the one to blow my cover?_

But suddenly I heard the faint hiss as the gravtrain pulled into the platform. I could make this one, if I hurried. 

I had to wait as the stream of people poured off of the train, trying to push me out of the way. Then suddenly the light above the door flashed from red to green indicating that we could board the train.

After much pushing, shoving and a few punches in the stomach I secured my seat. 

*****

The ride back to 6 was about twenty minutes with the late afternoon traffic so I had a lot of time to think.

_I was a murderer, plain and simple._

_But somehow it didn't seem to bother me, for some reason I felt no guilt whatsoever._

_How could that be, I had just killed a man in cold blood? Why did I not feel guilty for that?_

_Could it be that somehow this job was meant for me? Was I meant to be an assassin? A ruthless killer who got paid to do it? What kind of a job was this? But it didn't matter anymore, because I knew that from now on this was my job. _

I was meant to be an assassin.

Suddenly the steady thrum of the gravity engines died and the train came to halt.

The emergency lights flickered on and a pre-recorded message rang out over the intercom.

"Please do not panic. We are experiencing minor technical difficulties which should be absolved soon. Please do not panic. We are…"

_What the hell was goin' on? _

Then I looked down into the forward cars.

_Shit! The cops were searching the train! I had to get out of here fast._

I quickly yet casually walked to the back of the train. And there I found what I was looking for, an air vent. 

The train cab was a scene of chaos with everyone panicking so no one noticed me pop off the air vent hatch and disappear from the train.

After securing the air vent I hopped off the train and realized that I was totally lost. I was standing in the middle of a pitch-black tunnel with no clue where to go. 

It looked like the cops had stopped all of the trains in this tunnel. But unless mine was the first they were inspecting then there must be another train that was ready to get back on its route.

I listened carefully and confirmed my suspicion; I'd heard the steady thrum of gravity engines very close by. Meaning that a gravtrain somewhere was ready to take off.

I saw it down at the end of the tunnel, the emergency lights were shut off and the train's engines began to thrum steadily. I sprinted for that train; it didn't matter where it was going as long as it got me out of here.

But three cops, apparently assigned to guard the tunnel blocked my path. It was time to relieve them of their duty.

I pulled out my gun and with a muffled thump one cop took a shot right in the stomach. Before either of the other two could call back up I had made sure they wouldn't be guarding anything else again for a while.

The first guy had to have been a rookie, or the city training program wasn't what it used to be. The kid never even had time to get his hands up. A punch to the stomach disabled him momentarily and then a little tap on the head with the butt of my gun made sure he wouldn't be bothering anybody for a long time.

My last challenger must have been the senior officer because he was at least smart enough to get his gun up. But all the bullet did was make another mark on the tunnel walls, for I was too quick to fall into that trap.

I figured that this guy deserved a little bit of special treatment, seeing as he'd try to take my head off with a bullet and all.

Apparently he was only trained to use a gun because he never even had time to put up his hands before I kicked him in the ribcage. A smile of satisfaction spread across my face as I heard a few cracks. 

_Had I become someone who reveled in other people's pain?_

No time for thinking now, this guy wasn't unconscious yet and there were probably more cops on the way. 

Just as my opponent staggered to his feet I delivered a punch in the nose and another kick in the head. He'd feel that in the morning. I grabbed his gun and ran to catch the already moving train.

As I chanced a look over my shoulder I was greeted with a shower of bullets. I managed to dodge all but one, which buried itself in my left arm. 

__

Dammit that hurts!

I had to ignore them for now, or I'd never catch the train. With the last little burst of energy I had I sprinted for it and leapt for the little platform on the back of the last car. 

I reached out with my right arm and found a bar on the railing. I pulled myself up and collapsed momentarily on the platform.

I studied the senior cop's gun and found that something was stuck to the butt, a palm sized explosive! 

__

Holy shit, this could really do some damage. 

Suddenly another shower of bullets spattered across the back of the train. Okay now they were asking for it. 

I yanked the explosive off the gun, pulled the pin and threw it with all my strength in the direction of my friends, the police. 

As the train sped out of the tunnel I heard a distant explosion and that part of the tunnel lit up momentarily with a bright flash. Now no one in that tunnel, aside from a few passengers would be remembering my face.

As the train sped off through the city I closed my eyes and relaxed into a light sleep, the hardest part was over.

*****

A week later I sat in the basement of ponytail man's building. 

"I want my money, I killed your man. I held up my end of the deal, now you hold up yours." I said to ponytail man.

"I'm sorry but I can't do that." He replied.

"Why the hell not!"

"Please do calm down, getting excited won't get you anywhere."

"We'll see about that."

At this point ponytail man's face became a little paler and he motioned for his bodyguard to come over.

"Now I understand that you held up your end of the deal. And I planned to hold up mine but you see a few difficulties have arose."

I just stared right into his eyes.

He swallowed nervously and continued.

"I didn't think that this would be all over the news. I thought that you might approach this in a subtler fashion."

"I have my ways, you have yours."

"Yes I understand that, but do you think destroying a section of the tunnel was necessary?"

"Those cops were pissing me off, they deserved to get their asses blown up." I said, while still feeling the slight pain of my wound I'd received in that tunnel.

"Whether or not they deserved it is not the question. You almost killed ten train loads of people!"

"But I didn't, I only killed those asshole cops."

"That is not the point, the point is that…" I never gave him time to finish the sentence.

"The point is that if you don't give me my money right now then you'll pay the consequences!"

I cooled down a little for the next statement.

"I'll put this to you plain and simple. I want my money; you told me you'd pay me it. And I don't think you know what I do to people who don't hold up their end of the deal."

All ponytail man did was pale a little more.

I pulled out both of my guns and pointed them right at each of the men's heads.

"Let's try this again. You give me my money, or I blow your fucking brains all over this cellar."

"Get the man his money." Ponytail man ordered the bodyguard.

As the bodyguard walked over into the back to get the money I kept him in my sights the whole time. He came back with an envelope with 1,000,000 gil, all for me.

As I walked out I never turned my back to them. I kept them both in my sights with both guns drawn.

*****

I walked all the way back to 7 and sat down at the barstool where this had all started about a week ago.

As I nursed my drink I thought over what my life had become. 

_I'd shot a man and killed probably ten cops. No big deal, they were in the way, and the man must have done something to merit his death. _

A week ago this would have bothered me that I was thinking like this. But now it didn't seem to matter.

Because now I was an assassin, and if there was a better life out there for me somewhere, then it would have to wait.

__

Author's note- That's the end of my Close to the Ground  trilogy. I do plan to write more about Reno before he joined Shinra. Also if you enjoy sci-fi check out A Better Life, which is basically the non FF7 version and the original. I'm going to be taking a little break but I will post more assassin stories when I return.

Anya's note-As long as Diego writes the original sci fi stories, I'm going to keep converting them to Final Fantasy 7. I hoped you liked this one! (By the way, that last part was really Renoish, wasn't it?.) And check out my stories too!!! 


End file.
